My Kind of Town
>> Portlock Aufogo, as in ow!
Mickey heard a gunshot behind him as he dived through the window screen, rolled and came up running. The faded gray sedan was where he left it two doors down, and he quickly got in and turned the key. He heard nothing. He swore, turned the key again. Nothing.
Suddenly a huge Polynesian guy was opening his door, a second was lifting the hood and a third was at the passenger window.
"Lesson time, Mickey," Wili said, pulling Mickey from the car. The sirens were just a few blocks away now, getting closer. "Just a quick lesson."
Willie dragged Mickey around to the front of the car. Mickey was still clutching himself where he'd been shot, and they could see blood there. Seth pointed under the hood.
"You can't go anywhere with the battery cables disconnected," Seth said and punched Mickey in the stomach, driving his fist up under the ribs, knocking his wind out. "Oh, I'm Kimmee's father," Seth explained.
Mickey doubled over. Wili grabbed Mickey by the hair, yanked him upright, smashed a huge fist into his nose, flattening it. "That's for Kimmee too."
Mickey fell to the ground, making hideous sucking sounds as he cried out in pain while gasping for air. Tai kicked him in the ribs twice and Mickey began to blubber indecipherably.
"You got the message, Mickey? Kimmee sends her regards."
The sirens were very close now. Tai, Seth and Wili ran across the street, jumped into the SUV. Tai started the engine, made a quick U-turn and they were two blocks away when the first police cars arrived.
Their traditional aufogo was over, 12 hours later. Seth and his two cousins had exacted punishment on behalf of their family. Whatever the police and the courts did with Mickey, that was another matter. In the matter of ripping off Kimmee for $500, justice and family honor had been served.
>> Quinn had not wanted this mutt to get away, and .22 slug in the thigh or no, he stepped through the window in pursuit.
"Roger, Central, that was a gunshot," he gasped, talking to HPD dispatch through his cell phone's ear piece-microphone. "Suspect just jumped through a window, is running makai. I'm in pursuit."
Quinn starting limping after him, took six steps and blacked out. "Quinn!" Lily shrieked from the window. Frantically she crawled through the window and ran and knelt beside him.
"Oh, God, Quinn," Lily sobbed, seeing that the whole right leg of his jeans was soaked in blood.
His eyes fluttered open.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek.
His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin
with weekly summaries on Sunday.
He can be emailed at dchapman@midweek.com